Chow! EW's quarterly restaurant guide

There’s no shortage of ciderhouses in Portland, and now the Willamette Valley is jumping onboard the fruit-filled trend. Some hit the market early: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, which opened in Corvallis in 2010, is now expanding its craft cider sales to Alaska, Idaho and Nevada. And some, such as WildCraft Cider Works and Elk Horn Brewery, opened just last year, offering their brand new apple-y goodness to the people of Eugene.

A new restaurant has opened in downtown Eugene, nestled near the domineering Capstone buildings — Makoto, Japanese for "truth" or "honesty," isn’t located far from a handful of other sushi and Japanese restaurants in the area. But Makoto plans to do things differently.

Tiffany Norton, 33, and Mark Kosmicki, 37, the chefs and owners of Party Downtown, have a hard time settling on a favorite dish. “I really like the lamb bacon,” Kosmicki says. “But that’s fleeting,” Norton adds. “We only had four bellies.”

These days it seems the coolest place for Portland eateries to expand to is downtown Eugene. Joining Voodoo Doughnut, Townshend's Tea and Sizzle Pie is Portland’s Killer Burger — the kind of joint that puts bacon on everything. And that tells you what kind of place you’re dealing with: This is food-challenge territory; not for the faint of heart, the timid eater, or Morrissey fans.

Tam Howitt and her husband Heath Howitt say that to understand Vietnamese cuisine, you have to understand fish sauce. The pair recently opened Tam’s Place Vietnamese Cuisine, a food truck located on 29th and Friendly in Eugene.

The Oregon Electric Station, one of Eugene’s bastions of fine dining since 1977, reopened Aug. 9 under new ownership, and people have taken notice. “We expected to be busy,” General Manager Paolo Ruffi says, “but we have been beyond busy. We’ve been overwhelmed by the reaction of the people.”

Like it or not, football season is upon us like a fullback in tight pants. For many, football means parties and parties mean food. If you need a fresh catering option for your next tailgate (or couch-gate), consider the meanest-named new restaurant in Eugene: Toxic Wings and Fries on River Road.

It’s hard calling to mind the mouth-watering taste of smoked salmon when staring at a scaly, pungent, eyeballs-and-everything fish. But don’t be intimidated — with the help of a smoker, some brine and a little insider information, you can transform your fishy friend into a Northwest delicacy.

Leela Nelapudi has always loved making delicious meals. “I cook every day,” she says. “I love trying flavors, and I always cook healthy.” That passion is now blossoming in the commercial kitchen space at Sprout! in Springfield. Every weekday from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, as well as during the 3 to 7 pm Friday Sprout! farmers market, Nelapudi serves up plates of Indian food that are healthy, vegetarian and delicious.

The founders of Membrillo Latin Café want people to know that their style of Latin food goes far beyond the shores of Cuba — that its flavors transcend borders and continents.

“A lot of people are comparing us to classic or traditional Cuban restaurants from Miami or Tampa,” says Corey Wisun, who, with his business and life partner Sarah Foottit, runs the café located on the corner of Park Street and 8th Avenue. “I wanted to keep it a little more broad and open.”

The top of the mountain — the summit — as well as a circle representing wealth and success are a couple of the cultural connotations restaurant owner Alex Han drew upon when naming his new Asian fusion restaurant. The word “Maru” means mountaintop in Japanese, but it’s also known colloquially to represent money because the Chinese character of the word is circular.

Maru opened its doors about six months ago with clean white platters of sushi and steaming bowls of Korean and Japanese cuisine.

When a man grows up in Italy fishing for octopus and has a tattoo of an octopus on his arm, you can be pretty sure that he knows how to cook an octopus. At Noli Italian restaurant in Eugene, you won’t ever see chef and owner Davide Mulone (DAH-vee-day) serving fried calamari. “I never like fried calamari,” he says. “Where I come from, calamari is grilled. We do nice calamari here, quick on a flat-top with a little olive oil.”

Driving up Willamette the other day, I was greeted at the corner of 18th Avenue by the unmistakable smell of smoked meat. Now that the BBQ King has moved into a brick-and-mortar location, painting the intersection with the glorious aroma of his creations, it’s got me thinking about ribs. And once you get ribs on your mind, there’s really only one way to remedy that: a good old-fashioned rib-off!

Sitting in a booth at Marché, my fiancé and I admire the etchings above our table. Each one features a different food-smith, a sort of lineup of French food superheros: There’s the Beurière, or buttermaid, outfitted with a dress made of pails, measuring slabs of butter on a scale; the Poissonnière (a fishmaid) wearing a crab headpiece and a gown covered in fish; and of course the Vinaigrié (a vinegar maker) carrying barrels of vinegar while sporting mustard-box pantaloons. These 17th-century prints are as au courant as ever — not much surpasses the pursuit of la vie gastronomique in France.

When getting a daily dose of fruits and veggies becomes a chore, a visit to The Green Plow Juicery can wipe out that to-do list in one delicious fell swoop. The juicery, set up in a 17-foot trailer across from Friendly Street Market, specializes in fresh juices and smoothies made to order from organic ingredients.

Eugene chef Beverly Lynn Bennett is on a roll — specifically, a gluten-free, dairy-free roll sprinkled with chia seeds enclosing a veggie burger made with chia seeds, alongside a salad made of chia seed dressing and chia sprouts. Bennett’s new cookbook is called Chia: Using the Ancient Superfood, and it’s all about this member of the mint family.

Bread isn’t just bread for those who can’t tolerate gluten — it’s a gut-wrenching problem food. And pasta? Forget it. About one in 141 people have celiac disease, according to the National Institutes of Health, and it causes an immune response when people eat gluten, a common protein in wheat, rye and barley. Another condition, gluten sensitivity, makes gluten a no-go as well.

Baker Butcher, the newest addition to the international cafés at Fifth Street Market, is rustic-chic and simple. There’s a chalkboard menu, Mason jar chandeliers and colorful wallboards. The kitchen sits in front of your eyes, and the periodic dull horn from the nearby train over the muted chatter of eaters creates an energetic hum that sets a perfect brunchy atmosphere.

The building at 1290 Patterson is among the West University Neighborhood’s last remaining examples of early 20th-century architecture. Prime for foot traffic, the building, a former coin laundry and tanning salon among other things, is located near the UO campus and PeaceHealth’s university location. Only adding to the desirability of the address is a brand-new, five-story mixed retail and residential development right across the street.

With summer threatening to emerge in bursts of sunlight, one’s mind wanders to warm-weather cuisine: watermelon, lemonade and wieners fresh from the grill. If you’re like me, it’s hard to wait for the rain to stop before satisfying that craving. So I hit the pavement in search of hot dogs. The following is what I found.

Walk into Noisette Pastry Kitchen and you know you’re somewhere special. Sun pours through the glass walls and, even in winter, the open kitchen with its bustle and chatter makes the place feel alive and exempt from cold-weather hibernation. Noisette’s menu is visual, with names of dishes written on the parchment paper lining cases of sweet and savory pastries, sandwiches and salads.